AWiB forged a new partnership with Center for International Reproductive Health Training (CIRHT)
CIRHT is established in cooperation with the University of Michigan and MOH and works in eight medical schools in Ethiopia. CIRHT works to train health care officials and future medical professionals, providing students with hands-on experience in the field. Its focus is to create a center for reproductive health training in order to increase the number of health professionals equipped to provide life-saving reproductive health care especially to women whose families are poor. The program aims to develop new leaders who will stay on and contribute to the health care in Ethiopia.
As a Center of Excellence for CIRHT Ethiopia, St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College in Addis Ababa is leading the way. Since adopting an integrated reproductive health training curriculum in 2012, students at St. Paul’s have built their skills in simulation labs, supervised clinical rotations and ongoing mentoring from experienced faculty and residents.
CIRHT helps empower women to make their own decisions about their own reproductive health, thereby choosing whether and when to start a family. The ultimate goal is to help train future generations of capable and competent health care providers who can deliver comprehensive reproductive health services, and also be advocates for the safest and best health care possible at every stage of a woman’s life. Dr. Senait Fisseha, (please refer to this month’s Spotlight) has been instrumental in creating CIRHT.
AWiB is grateful for this partnership. We have been looking to give seminars on women’s reproductive health and sexuality. This partnership helps CIRHT create a platform to reach out to the missing middle– most AWiB groups– through the bi-monthly “HealthSmart” seminars that St. Paul Hospital trained doctors offer at AWiB Resource Center (ARC) and the substantial funding we get from CIRHT helps AWiB with the necessary fund to run the much needed resource center effectively and efficiently.
